1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, an endoscope and an image pickup apparatus manufacturing method, and specifically relates to an image pickup apparatus manufactured by wafer-level chip-size packaging, an endoscope including the image pickup apparatus and a method for manufacturing the image pickup apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic endoscopes, camera-equipped mobile phones and digital cameras, etc., that include an image pickup apparatus including a solid-state image pickup device such as a CCD or a CMOS have widely been used. An image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup device substrate portion with a solid-state image pickup device formed thereon, and a cover glass portion that protects the solid-state image pickup device.
Image pickup apparatus manufacturing methods using wafer-level chip-size packaging (WL-CSP) for downsizing and mass production of image pickup apparatuses are known. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-204053 discloses a method in which a semiconductor wafer with a large number of image pickup devices formed thereon and, e.g., a glass substrate are bonded and the resulting semiconductor wafer is subsequently cut for singulation to obtain a large number of image pickup apparatuses in a batch.
Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-45333 discloses a horizontal image pickup apparatus that shoots an object in a direction perpendicular to an image pickup device surface. For horizontal image pickup apparatuses, a step of bonding a right angle prism to an upper face of a cover glass is necessary.